Previews16 Sep 2005

2005 Super Track & Field Meet - PREVIEW

American Justin Gatlin celebrates winning gold in the men's 100m final (© Getty Images)

Eight gold medallists from the recent IAAF World Championships in Helsinki - Justin Gatlin, Yelena Isinbayeva, Dwight Phillips, Ivan Tikhon, Allyson Felix, Olga Kuzenkova, Nadezhda Ostapchuk and Bershawn Jackson - are expected to compete in the 2005 Super Track & Field Meet in Yokohama, Japan on 19 September, a Japanese national holiday. The Super T&F meet, which was inaugurated in 1988, is now in its 18th year.

Several World records were set in the past editions of the Super meet. Twice, in 1991 and 1992, Sergey Bubka set the world Pole Vault record. The men’s PV is not in the program this year, but the women’s event is. With the presence of World record holder Yelena Isinbayeva, the World record is a distinct possibility. Her main competitions will be Tatyana Grigoriyeva, who holds the Japanese all-comers record of 4.56m, and Jillian Schwartz of the US.

One of the purposes of the Super T&F meet is to give top Japanese athletes an opportunity to compete against the best athletes in the world. Thus the meet has invited Justin Gatlin, the reigning World and Olympic champion at 100m. Challenging Gatlin and hopeful to crack the elusive 10 seconds barrier are two top Japanese - Shingo Suetsugu and Nobuharu Asahara. Suetsugu, 2003 World bronze medalist at 200m, said: “I have yet to run against Gatlin, so I am looking forward to such an opportunity.”

Originally Dai Tamesue, the World Championships bronze medallist was going to challenge two athletes who finished ahead of him in Helsinki - Beshawn Jackson and James Carter. However, Tamesue pulled out of the meet at the last minute citing Achilles injury from which he has not fully recovered. Tamesue apologized for missing the Super meet in his own website but strongly encouraged fans to attend one of the only two world class meets in Japan.

“Perhaps you can see a sub 10 seconds 100m. I, of course, will be there too,” writes Tamesue. In the absence of Tamesue, Kenji Narisako, the reigning World University Games’ champion will be the main challenger to Jackson and Carter.

Although the World Hammer Throw champion Ivan Tikhon, who is the second longest thrower in history, is coming to Yokohama, the hometown hero and the defending Olympic champion Koji Murofushi will not be able to compete. Thus Tikhon’s main competition will come from his countryman Vadim Devyatovskiy, Helsinki’s silver medallist.

In two other events – the women’s Hammer Throw and Shot Put - the reigning World champion will face the Helsinki bronze medallist. First, in the women’s Hammer Throw, World record holder Tatyana Lysenko, who finished third in Helsinki, will face the reigning World & Olympic Champion Olga Kuzenkova. The best Japanese challenge will come from Yuka Murofushi, a sister of Koji Murofushi. In the women’s Shot Put, World champion Nadezhda Ostapchuk will face the bronze medalist Valerie Vili.

Other events with the World champion competing are the women’s 100m and men’s Long Jump. In the 100m, US 100m champion Me’lisa Barber will race against the World 200m champion Allyson Felix. Dwight Phillips is a strong favourite in the Long Jump, where the most interesting challenger will be World Youth champion Chris Noffke.

Three rising stars – Yuzo Kanemaru, Asami Tanno and Yuriko Kobayashi – are the future of the sports in Japan. Nineteen years old Tanno, a national 400m record holder, was fourth in the World University Games, while seventeen years old Kanemaru, a national high school record holder at 400m, ran the relay leg in Helsinki.

Kobayashi, a silver medalist at 1500m in the World Youth Championships, has improved her national high school record by nearly three seconds this year. Still 16 years old, Kobayashi is less than 1 second away from the national junior record. With the presence of faster runners like national record holder Miho Sugimori and Yuliya Chizhenko (finished second in Helsinki but DQ later), Kobayashi might be pulled into a junior record.

Ken Nakamura for the IAAF

List of main competitors
100m
Justin Gatlin
Chris Williams
Coby Miller
Shingo Suetsugu
Nobuharu Asahara

400m
Leonard Byrd
Devian Clarke
Yuzo Kanemaru
Mitsuhiro Sato
Jun Osakada

1500m
Kevin Sullivan
Murigi Mwangi
Yuichiro Ueno

110mH
Liu Xiang
Maurice Wignall
Masato Saito
Satoru Tanigawa

400mH
Beshawn Jackson
James Carter
Kenji Narisako
Yoshihiro Chiba

HJ
Naoyuki Daigo
Ivan Ukhov
Yoshihiko Edo

LJ
Dwight Phillips
Chris NOffke
Masaki Morinaga
Shin-ichi Terano

HT
Ivan Tikhon
Vadim Devyatovskiy

Women
100m
Allyson Felix
Melisa Barber
Sakie Nobuoka
Momoko Takahashi

400m
Christine Amertil
Dee Dee Trotter
Asami Tanno
Makiko Yoshida

1500m
Yuliya Chizhenko
Mestawat Tadesse
Yuriko Kobayashi
Miho Sugimori
Yukari Soh